Signal tower, refuge during 1857 Revolt, to a monument: The many faces of Flagstaff Tower

Singh said he comes to the ridge for a walk every morning, armed with a wooden stick to keep monkeys at bay, and spends some time admiring the beauty of the tower.

Right across the Viceregal Lodge, which today houses the Delhi University Vice-Chancellor’s office, and up a steep road into the Northern Ridge biodiversity park is Flagstaff Tower, nestled among seven other monuments. The one-room circular castellated brick and plaster structure, built around 1828 as a signal tower, is on the highest point of the Ridge past a canopy of trees.

It encloses a higher tower, round which steps lead to the roof with embattled parapets. It has an iron barred entrance gate and iron-grated windows. The structure also has holes in the walls, which historians believe were used to place guns.

Several historians and writers have written at length about the Flagstaff Tower as it played a significant role in the 1857 Revolt. Initially used for sending telegraph messages, the tower became a temporary refuge for the British during the Revolt. The capture of the tower, first by rebels and then by the British, resulted in massive casualties. The bodies were then dumped in the nearby lake, turning it red; it was later named Khooni Jheel.

Henry George Keene and Edmund Albert Duncan, in their book, Handbook to Delhi, wrote: “On 11th May, 1857, after most Europeans in the Fort and City had been cruelly murdered by the mutineers from Meerut, and after many officers had been shot down by the sepoys of their own regiments, all the survivors, including officers, collected at this tower, which was defended by only two guns, and a few sepoys, whose loyalty was doubtful.”

They further wrote: “The tower was crowded to suffocation with men, women and children, all hoping for early success from Meerut. When, however, the explosion of the Old Magazine, blown up by Willoughby at about 4 PM, boomed forth like an edict of doom, they relinquished all hope of succour and decided on escaping, if possible, some to Meerut and others to Karnal and Umballa; the only alternative left (to) them being to remain and suffer certain torture, dishonour and death at the hands of merciless, demons, bent on their destruction.”

William Dalrymple, in his book, The Last Mughal, wrote: “The only serious resistance the British met was at the Flagstaff Tower, the scene of such confusion a month earlier. Here alone the sepoys held their ground and ‘met the Europeans with a withering volley which killed many and wounded a great number’. Late in the afternoon there was also a belated attempt at a counter-attack up through the Sabzi Mandi. This was driven off by the Gurkhas with the unsheathed kukri knives. By 5 PM…, the entire Ridge was in British hands.”

Up until the past decade, the flagstaff bore the marks of the bullets and cannons of 1857. “The Flagstaff Tower was the sad spot where the ladies of the cantonment gathered with their children on the afternoon of 11th May, and waited vainly for help from Meerut, or for something to be done, and from which they finally started in sad disorganised flight towards Karnal; and it is only too easy to imagine what their sufferings of that afternoon must have been,” wrote Herbert Charles Fanshawe in his book, Delhi Past and Present.

He further wrote, “It was at the Flagstaff Tower too, that the enemy made their last stand on 8th June, before falling back behind the shelter of the city walls; and four days later, on 12th June, delivered one of their most determined attacks on our position, which compelled us to occupy Metcalfe House.”

According to Dr AK Singh, scientist in-charge of the Kamla Nehru Ridge, the tower is now under the jurisdiction of the Archaeological Survey of India and is maintained regularly. “We, however, ensure its safety as it is part of the Ridge. Every two years, the building is repaired and taken care of. The tower is amidst several species of flora and fauna which the Ridge is home to today,” he said.

Singh further said that the Ridge experiences a lot of VIP movement and footfall, and it becomes a difficult task to ensure safety as the biodiversity park is spread across 300 acres.